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Arkansas Woman Found Guilty of Killing Husband In 1996 Ordered Freed

A Carroll County judge has ordered a 57-year-old woman to be released from
prison after serving 22 years and nine months for the bludgeoning death
of her husband in 1994.

If Belynda Goff were to have a new trial she would be acquitted, Circuit
Judge Scott Jackson wrote Wednesday in a resentencing order.

Goff was convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder in the death of her husband,
Stephen Goff. She was sentenced to life in prison. She refused a plea
bargain and has maintained her innocence.

After an appeal, the case was remanded to Carroll County Circuit Court
for resentencing, and in 1998 she was again sentenced to life in prison.

Belynda Goff found her husband’s bloody body in the living room of
their Berryville apartment early on the morning of June 12, 1994, according
to Jackson’s resentencing order.

Laboratory testing found none of Belynda Goff’s DNA on evidence from
the case, Jackson wrote.

Several items of evidence submitted with the case were found to be missing
either from the state Crime Laboratory or the Carroll County sheriff’s
office, according to court filings. They included fingernail clippings
and hair that was found on the victim.

“This court has considered the DNA test results with all other evidence
in the case, including the joint stipulations of the parties, and the
court finds compelling evidence that a new trial would result in an acquittal
of the defendant, Belynda Goff,” Jackson wrote.

Jackson sentenced Belynda Goff to 32 years and nine months, with 10 years
suspended. In other words, he sentenced her to time served, but she must
commit no “jailable offenses” over the next decade and she
must have no contact with Stephen Goff’s family members.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Belynda Goff was still at the Carroll County
jail in Berryville. She had been transported there from the state’s
McPherson prison unit in Newport to appear at the resentencing hearing
in Carroll County Circuit Court earlier that day.

Maj. Jerry Williams with the Carroll County sheriff’s office said
paperwork had been submitted to the Department of Correction to release
Goff, but it probably won’t be processed until today.

Goff’s case had been championed by the Innocence Project, which works
to exonerate the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and judicial system
changes, according to innocenceproject.org.

Both parties had entered into “joint stipulations of fact,”
Jackson wrote. He summarized the case timeline in his order, based on
those stipulations and “the historical background of the case.”

According to Jackson’s ruling, Sherri Terrill, an upstairs neighbor
of the Goffs, told police that her husband heard three knocks at the Goffs’
door about 2 a.m. June 12, 1994. He heard the door open and then “approximately
five bangs that sounded like a broomstick hitting the ceiling,”
Jackson wrote.

Another neighbor, Tina Loftis, told police she was awakened by a loud crash
about that same time.

A third neighbor, Jodi Davidson Morgan, told police she saw “two
strange men with beers in their hands and a baseball bat in the back of
their vehicle” park in front of the Goffs’ apartment the previous
evening, according to Jackson’s order. Michelle Belle also saw the
two men at Forest Court Apartments on June 11, 1994, wrote Jackson.

Chris Lindley, Belynda Goff’s brother, said he was involved in an
arson-for-hire scheme with Stephen Goff, according to Jackson’s order.

“Mr. Lindley testified under oath that a few days before his death,
Mr. Goff called Mr. Lindley distraught and in fear for his life because
he owed a large sum of money related to this arson-for-hire scheme,”
Jackson wrote.

After Belynda Goff was arrested, her rental home was burned by an arsonist,
according to the judge’s historical summary of the case.

“No trace of blood was found on hammers recovered from an appliance
box in the Goff apartment,” Jackson wrote. “At trial, neither
the state nor any of its witnesses positively identified any admitted
evidence or other item as the murder weapon.”

Belynda Goff was a “model prisoner,” according to a June 19
court filing by Jane Pucher of the Innocence Project and
Doug Norwood, a Rogers attorney.

“Mrs. Goff has continued her education while incarcerated, earning
a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in religious studies,”
they wrote. “In 2011, Mrs. Goff joined the Paws in Prison Program
as one of its very first participants and began training dogs to serve
as guides for disabled children. … She has been an active Bible
study leader throughout her incarceration.”

Before her arrest, Belynda Goff worked as a park assistant at Silver Dollar
City in Branson from 1990 to 1991 and as a plant worker for Tyson Foods
in Berryville from 1991 to 1996, according to the court filing.

For eight years while incarcerated, Belynda Goff processed license applications
for the “local Game & Fish Commission,” according to the
filing. She also worked as a data imaging clerk for Arkansas Correctional
Industries.

“Since 2014, she has worked at an off-site facility building harnesses
for emergency vehicles as part of the Prison Industry Enhancement Program,”
wrote Pucher and Norwood. “In that capacity, Mrs. Goff works 10-hour
daily shifts six days per week.”

“The judge has made a decision,” said Tony Rogers, the Carroll
County prosecutor. “We’ll respect his ruling. I’ll put
out a press release certainly before the weekend stating our intention
from here. This case has got a long and tortuous history.”

Attorney Doug Norwood has over 30 years of experience helping clients throughout Northwest Arkansas. He and his team can review your case and determine your available legal options to help you avoid serious criminal penalties.

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